


All Hail the Queen

by Tea90



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: A lot of references to French culture, Also a lot of references to music and stuff in general, Alternate Universe, Chasefield fanfic, F/F, Humor, I just wanted to write something funny and skip the angst, because I have the headcanon that Victoria is a francophile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-25
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:34:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tea90/pseuds/Tea90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Who are you?”</p><p>“I’m Max. I-I’m new here. I come from Seattle.”</p><p>“I’m Victoria, and I’m the Queen of this place. Keep that in mind.”</p><p>[Chasefield fanfic with Victoria's POV, focused on their first month in Blackwell.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First week of September

**Author's Note:**

> Life is Strange is a really intense video game, and that's why we love it, but at some point I felt like I needed to disconnect from all this intensity and read something in a less serious tone, so I did it myself. This fanfic was originally a one shot, but I threw up this chapter and enjoyed writing it so much I finally decided to make it a 4 chapter long story, one per week of September. 
> 
> Expect nothing but a collection of funny/ridiculous situations with the relationship between Victoria and Max as the main point.

September has arrived. It's a fact. A statement. An assertion. A torture… September has arrived and therefore, classes are about to start. Victoria wasn't ready to start classes. Not yet. But she was ready to show everyone who was the rightful Queen of this place. Show it one more year, of course, stride among the simpletons in all her sophisticated majesty.

It was the very last day of holidays before classes. They were starting the next day. All of the students were settling in the dorms, getting everything ready to start the school year. Victoria was lying on the bed after unpacking almost all her things and organizing them in the tiny room. Not that it was actually tiny, not at all. But it was for Victoria. She was used to living in her family's sumptuously large mansion outside Arcadia Bay, so living in this gilded drywall prison cell was indeed an agony for her. How was she supposed to choose such a measly amount of clothes from her sprawling autumn collection? Only her Vuitton cashmeres could fill this pitifully small wardrobe.

The blonde was thinking about calling her father to have the dormitories bought from the Prescotts so she could have two or three rooms for herself. That would be the easiest solution, but that didn't mean it was the smartest one. Victoria's father always supported the 'do-it-yourself' motto for her daughter. He gave his precious girl a limitless American Express when she was only 6 and told her to go buy herself something nice for her birthday. That was the Chases way of showing love.

Good thing Victoria's father doesn't check the bills, otherwise he would've seen those 2 thousand dollars the little girl spent on buying all the princesses costumes they had in the Disney Store. She obviously bought two of each one because she was afraid of spoiling them in the future and her nanny didn't dare stop her. What a pair of lungs Victoria had as a kid when she cried. Victoria's nanny could tell. Too bad people grow, so 6 months later Skyscraper Victoria was too tall to fit on them.

Her mind was wandering through all those costumes she enjoyed for a short time. Victoria couldn't help laughing when she remembered the time when she made her nanny dress as the Fairy Godmother while she wore that lovely Cinderella costume so they could recreate the famous scene with a giant pumpkin her caretaker crafted for them. Victoria thanked her with a kick in the shin (the only place she could reach before turning into Skyscraper Victoria) and some crocodile tears because it wasn't pretty enough, despite all her efforts. That was one the more vivid memories Victoria had from her childhood, and she remembered not being able to pronounce properly anything other than 'Bibbidi-bobbidi-doo', so she kept repeating it during the whole song. How ironic was it her nanny used to call her Cinderelly when she was a little kid?

A soft noise broke the silence of the room and made Victoria snap out of her daydreaming.

"Who?" Victoria lazily replied to the sound.

"Courtney!" Said the girl outside the door.

She was presumably waiting for Victoria to let her in cause there was no way she was getting in without permission. Courtney knew her friend too well to do that, and she certainly remembered the last time she waltzed in without knocking. Weaponized airborne book projectiles made for pretty terrifying welcome mat substitutes. That morning she learnt Victoria was not an early bird and she didn't like to be disturbed before she finished her first black coffee of the day.

"It's open", simply answered the blonde.

Courtney got in the room and scanned it. Victoria didn't' even bother standing up to greet her friend. She was too tired to move. Plus, she got the perfect position and moving right now was the last thing she wanted to do.

"You've almost finished unpacking!"

"Of course." Grumbled Victoria, clearly annoyed. "You doubt my efficiency or what?" Said the blonde turning her head to Courtney.

Victoria Chase disliked plenty of things. People doubting her prowess was one of them. As a protest, she gifted the Brunette a purse of her lips.

"Absolutely not, Vicky Vic." Courtney corrected her previous comment. "How did the summer go?" Continued the girl, trying now to draw the attention to her friend, and not to herself.

Victoria raised her eyebrows looking at her friend. "Courtney, we've spent the summer together…"

"I know! But I mean, like, the trip and everything." Corrected herself Courtney again. She was starting to get nervous because of her apparently clumsy efforts to catch up with Victoria.

"Paris was lovely." Sighed Victoria, clearly showing she missed the city. "I'll tell you all the details at dinner."

Courtney nodded shortly and didn't say anything out loud. If Victoria said she'd tell them later, it'd be better to wait. Everyone knew the Queen didn't like to repeat things. The Brunette let her eyes wander through the room and she noticed one box on Victoria's desk.

"Vicky, you forgot this one. Let me help." Said with a smile.

She probably thought it was a good idea, but it wasn't. The laws of physics and gravity suddenly ceased to exist when Victoria saw her friend's hands dangerously close to the box. The blonde jumped from the bed and blocked Courtney, like she'd been secretly training with the Big Foots for this moment. Both girls fell to the floor.

"Why would you?!" Cried Courtney. She rubbed the back of her head due to the collision.

"No. I-I, no. You know? I was just…practicing."

"Practicing for what!?"

"You wouldn't get it. I, huh… Sorry." Replied Victoria lending a hand to her minion so she could stand up. "Let's get out of here."

Victoria just wanted to get Courtney away from that box. She thought it was a good idea to organize all her things first and leave the content of the box for the end. If only people found out she liked Lana del Rey and the Arctic Monkeys…. Besides, there was more in that box that was worse than some indie albums, like the lesbian porn she bought. Only for educational purposes. She felt immediately attracted to some terribly great puns, such as Womb Raider (starring Cara Loft!), Sluts and the City or Dyke Hard. She was just… curious about it, although the things she saw later on when she watched the movies will always haunt her. What an epic fail. But anyway, she wasn't willing to explain it to anyone else. Victoria drove all the way to Portland wearing a tracksuit and a wig to buy them so no one could recognize her. She wasn't going to let all her efforts to keep it a secret be ruined in a second. Worst of all, she kept all the shots she took from Paris with the instant camera. After all she has bitched and moaned about hipsters, she wasn't going to be caught with such an archaic and unrefined piece of technology.

Courtney was still annoyed by Victoria's reaction, but she followed her out of the room. A small girl came out of the toilets and stared at them. Who was she? She must've been new here cause Victoria knew every sorry bottom feeder stripling here in Blackwell.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Max. I-I'm new here. I come from Seattle."

Victoria checked the girl. Twice. First thing she noticed was her obvious hipster outfit. Jeans and a tee with a triangle print? Stunk like hipster. Victoria could bet her leg this girl listened to Lana del Rey. Well, so did she, but that wasn't the point.

Max blushed under the blazing glare the blonde fixed her with; fuck, the sun outside was hot as hell but she might as well have been a squirming ant being fried under a magnifying glass right now. Victoria noticed her face was full of freckles. The pinky tone of Max's face emphasized the freckles she has on her cheeks, and Victoria unconsciously started to count them. 25 on her cheeks and nose, and a small one above her upper lip, but she wasn't sure about that last one cause it looked like a chocolate spot, so it might've been either 25 or 26. Victoria would have to get closer to check the total amount of freckles she had, but that wouldn't be acceptable. Filthy fucking peasants.

Courtney elbowed Victoria and she finally snapped out of her calculus, immediately hating those 25 or 26 damn cute freckles…. Lame. Lame freckles, not cute. Victoria stared at her with her breathing becoming heavier. Yes, she already hated this girl and her 25 or 26 cute freckles. No, no. Lame! Lame freckles! Victoria's mind corrected itself, trying to hide the fact that she actually checked Max out.

"I'm Victoria, and I'm the Queen of this place. Keep that in mind." She stated in an angry tone.

"Okay…" Muttered Max rubbing her neck.

She was probably confused by Victoria's aggressive comment, but she didn't say anything about it. She pointed to her chest and then to the room in front of Victoria's one, like she didn't know neither what to do or say. Was that her room? Was she trying to invite them? To indicate she wanted to go there? What an awkward girl.

Victoria tilted her head like cats did when they didn't understand what was going on. Max probably thought she didn't want to embarrass herself more and she rushed to the door. Victoria's eyes involuntarily dropped to her booty as the little girl walked passed them. She stared at her figure until Max got into her room without noticing Courtney was looking at her with an amused expression.

"Were you just che…"

"Shut up!" Interrupted Victoria before Courtney could finish the sentence. She wasn't looking at anything! She was just… analyzing Max's style.

They resumed their walk and approached Taylor's room, hearing then music coming from the inside. Victoria didn't bother knocking, she just threw it open and strode in (as any rightful Queen should've); but once inside, the… 'surprise', to the say the least, was big enough to make her jaw drop to the floor. Taylor, loyal sycophant Taylor was facing the window and singing out loud with a broomstick as a microphone.

"OOOOoooooh, oh your hair is beautifuuuuul, oooooooh tonIIIIIght…. ATOMIC!"

She was mangling the song so hard Victoria and Courtney covered their ears with their hands. The only sound Victoria could relate Taylor's frenzied shrieking to was the dreadful wail of a Banshee. Was she trying to wake Cthulhu from the twisted depths of the ocean? Taylor the Banshee Cultist. That was something to think about. In any case, Victoria needed to stop this before her eardrums exploded.

"Taylor! Just because you auditioned for The Voice doesn't mean you can sing at all! Oh my god!" Shouted Victoria.

Taylor screamed in surprise (quite a feat considering how she'd already been screeching like a rusty violin moments earlier) and dropped the broomstick, but the damage was done. They'd heard everything. She muttered something, but the sound got lost in the blaring notes of the song.

"Turn the music off!" Victoria shouted again.

"I can't hear you!" Said Taylor. She paused the music to hear what Victoria's saying.

"I said turn the music on" Shouted Victoria one more time with a hoarse voice even though Taylor had just turned the music off.

"Okay…" Said Taylor turned the music on again as Victoria ordered.

"No! Nooooo! I meant turn the music off!" Victoria shrieked, bordering on Blonde Banshee herself. She couldn't believe how stupid the situation was.

Taylor finally stopped the music with a quizzical look.

"If you wanted me to turn the music off, why did you asked me turn it on?"

"Oh là là." Victoria pronounced in a poor French accent.

"What does that mean?" Replied Taylor, even more puzzled.

"Taylor… Oh là là means Oh là là…" Stated Victoria still with the poor French accent. She could fool her friends, but she wasn't that good in languages.

"Oh la la. Okay. I thought it was something in French."

"Taylor! It is actually French… Wait. What were you doing listening to Blondie anyway?"

"I was looking for different shades of blonde to dye my hair tomorrow and I came across that song. Cool, isn't it?"

"Do you know anything at all about Debbie Harry?" Asked Victoria quirking her eyebrows.

"Who's that? Is that the new girl? Cause I heard there's a new girl that comes from Seattle."

"Taylor! Debbie Harry is Blondie! Oh my god… Her most famous song is 'One way or another'." Victoria was shocked. She wasn't a huge fan of oldie records, but everyone knew who Blondie was.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Victoria." Replied Taylor shrugging her shoulders.

"One waaay, or anotheeeer, I'm gonna find you, I'm gonna getyougetyougetyougetyou… Even I know that song, Tails!" Courtney sang to Taylor.

"I actually know that song! It's the song they play in Mean Girls when Cady is trying to show Aaron that Regina's cheating on him."

"It's pronounced Katie!" Exclaimed Courtney.

For them Mean Girls was religion, except for all that Calculus bullshit. Come to think of it, Victoria's patience as the length of this conversation went to infinity was quickly approaching big fat zero.

"The lights are on but there's no one home…" Victoria was shocked by what was going on. This whole conversation was beyond stupid. "Anyway. We have the table for 20:15 and we have to walk all the way there. Let's move."

* * *

The trio went out to a really fancy French restaurant in the snobbish part of Arcadia Bay, just 15 minutes away by foot from Blackwell. Really fancy meant really expensive, but none of them was actually paying for dinner. It was Victoria's father and the limitless American Express he gave to her precious girl who were paying. Who the hell said infinity didn't exist? One more reason why Calculus could suck it. Victoria gave her name at the entrance and the maître sat them down in their table. Once they got comfortable, the waiter arrived and handed the menu to them, causing Taylor to sigh at his figure.

"Bonsoir. I'll be your waiter tonight. What would you ladies like to drink?"

"Bonsoir, garçon. On voudrait une bouteille de Louis Roederer Cristal Rosé, s'il vous plaît." Said Victoria with her poor French accent.

Victoria knew the sentence by heart and just replaced the name of the beverage. She learnt it from her French for Dummies copy and tried to imitate the accent. She failed spectacularly, but no one would notice, of course.

The waiter raised his eyebrows in surprise, possibly because of the price of the bottle. 500 dollars. After all, it was one the best champagnes in the world. Victoria stared at the waiter for some uncomfortable seconds until he cleared his throat. As a reply, Victoria smacked her lips and took out the credit card, leaving it on the table and quirking her eyebrows at him. This was going to be his last day of work here, she promised to herself.

"Right away" He said looking at the credit card.

They stared at the menu while the waiter went to take the champagne. Victoria read it and quickly decided what she was going to have. She raised her eyes from the menu and saw Taylor and Courtney's concentrated faces. They were sweating bullets trying to understand the dishes like they were just one number away to discover the formula for turning water into wine. Fuck, they almost looked like that dorkass Warren whenever he was nose-deep in a Chemistry textbook.

"Leave it to me, girls. I'll order for the three of us." She bossily said to her friends.

The waiter arrived with the champagne and proceeded to open the bottle. Victoria saw the opportunity of showing how great she was when it came to the language of love. Or more like how great she was when it came to everything.

"Alors, c'est quoi la garniture du boeuf bourguignon?"

"I'm so sorry ma'am… I can't speak French at all."

Victoria pursed hers lips. This waiter was a disaster. She'd definitely tell her father about how horrible the service was here. Or maybe not. She didn't want him to check the bill and see they ordered champagne even though they were only 18.

"The boeuf bourguignon… What do you serve it with?"

"With potatoes, ma'am."

"You're a potato." She didn't say that of course.

"Okay. We will all have that."

They finished the first bottle of champagne before the dinner was on the table, and by the time they had the Boeuf Bourguignon in front of them they had almost finished the second bottle of champagne. Victoria looked at the dish and felt satisfied of her choice. She would never admit this, but she knew that dish very well because she saw it in the movie Julie and Julia, with Meryl Streep. The secret, arcane recipe for creating such a decadent combination of cow carcass and vegetable was supposedly enclosed in the book, 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' - but she never got to read it anyway.

At home there was always someone willing to cook for her, therefore Victoria couldn't even fry an egg without yelling when the oil got too hot and started spiting all over the cooktop. In fact, she tried to make some fries when she came home completely smashed one night last summer, but it turned out to be a really bad idea.

Victoria thought the sound the potatoes were making when frying them was really sad because it felt like they were crying in pain, so she started crying too. She spent some good 30 minutes crying on the kitchen's floor until one of the house servants found her and got her to talk about what was going on between sobs and hiccups. Victoria acted like she didn't remember anything the next morning due to the alcohol she drank, but she certainly did.

Anyone could tell the three girls were a little bit tipsy, because instead of bringing their forks to their mouths they were leaning their heads closer to their forks to take a bite of the food, slowly chewing it once in their mouths. Courtney kept nodding the whole time they were eating, like she was constantly approving the taste of the food, while Taylor filled her mouth with food until she had no more space inside, chewing like a cow with her eyes closed.

Victoria was chewing like she had a secret, and she had a secret indeed. She was looking at her glass of champagne and thinking of Max and her 25 or 26 freckles, because there were exactly 25 or 26 bubbles in the golden liquid. Victoria thought how much she needed to get close to that sad expression the tiny new girl had as a face and recount those damn freckles to finally know whether she had 26 or if that last one was a chocolate spot.

"Soooo…" Started Courtney, still nodding.

"So what?" Said Victoria, still with her eyes narrowed like she had a secret, which she had indeed.

"Sooo… " Retried Courtney.

Taylor burst into laughter and almost spat out some food. She covered her mouth with one hand before she could embarrass herself further. God knew that girl had done enough today.

"Sooo… How was… Paris?" Finally managed to say Courtney, still nodding.

They probably looked a little bit tipsy, but they were actually loaded after the second bottle of champagne.

"Paris… Paris… You know. It was Paris." Victoria said rocking her body.

Taylor burst into laughter again, snorting loudly.

Victoria cleared her throat and focused on the conversation. They hadn't drank that much; it was just a matter of concentration to talk.

"Paris was… Too amazing for this life, you know? We visited all the greatest monuments; la Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, le Sacré-Coeur, le Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame, les Invalides, Versailles…. I saw all the nice things, you know? And, and, and… And I had a coffee in Le Café des Deux Moulins. That was awesome." The poor French accent was back, and it was worse than before because of the alcohol.

Between all the choppily-strung together "eee's" and "on's", a bystander might have thought some cheeky asshole had dragged a donkey into the restaurant.

"Le café de dull mulleins… What makes a place with boring flowers an awesome place? I don't understand." Asked Courtney genuinely confused.

"What the… I didn't say dull mulleins, I said Deux Moulins! That means Two Windmills. You haven't seen the film Amélie or what?"

"Is that on Netflix?" Asked Taylor.

"Forget about it… So yeah, it was a lovely trip. I took a bunch of photos with the inst-AAAhh." Victoria almost forgot she has to keep up her hate for hipster hobbies. "Instrument for taking photos."

"You mean the camera?" Helped Taylor.

"Yes. Yes. The camera. I lost the word for a second." That was close. "And we went to Disney Land the last two days of the trip."

"YOU WENT TO DISNEY LAND?!" Courtney yelled.

"What? Ah… Yes. We went to Disney Land. But only because, you know, my mom wanted to go, so my dad and I agreed because, well, she was like super excited about it. But it was super boring."

"It sounds super fun. I wish I could go to Disney Land Paris." Courtney sighed.

Victoria and her family actually went to Disney Land because of Victoria. They were supposed to leave France that night, but she got so annoying her father had to book two rooms in the park's hotel and change the flight tickets. If only people found out she pushed a little kid away by pulling from her ponytail to be the first one in getting a photo with Cinderella… Those photos with the Disney Princesses are now saved in the depths of her Macbook's hard disk protected with an 18 character long password. She'd rather have her eyebrows burnt than letting the world know she was more excited about seeing her favorite princesses than those little kids.

"Right. Anyway. I got you two a little something."

"Really!? What is it?!" Asked Taylor all excited.

"Okay, let me explain. Court, you and I go to French classes together, so I got you this." Victoria took a book out of her purse and handled it to her friend.

"It's a copy of The Little Prince in French. By now you should know we are supposed to read it this year because it's easy to understand, but we've been friends for a long time and I know you haven't checked the course program yet. It's a philosophical critique of life and human nature written with the approach of a tale for children. Because I love you so much, I've translated the prettiest quotes for you, but you have to read it, okay?"

"Victoria… Thank you. Will you help me understand it?"

"Of course I will, Court." Said Victoria with a genuine smile on her lips.

"Now it's your turn, Tails. I know you have so many problems in your life and you like to disconnect from them listening to relaxing music, so I got you this." Victoria took a CD out of her purse and handled it to Taylor.

"It's a CD with the songs you can hear in a true coffee shop in Paris. It features the best French singers ever, and the tunes will take you directly to the Paris before Word War II. Whenever you feel like you need to forget about everything, play this CD and think about a France full of cabarets and poetry. Because I love you so much too, I'll translate the lyrics of the most beautiful songs for you to understand them if you want."

"Wow, Victoria… Thank you so much. I'll play it tonight to help me fall asleep."

"Okay, okay. Enough of this sentimental stuff. Let's make a toast." Said Victoria raising her glass of champagne.

"To a year full of amazing experiences with you girls."

The three of them toasted their glasses and enjoyed the rest of their dinner happily chatting about everything they expected for the year.

* * *

First week of classes wasn't as bad as Victoria thought it would be. Before applying to Blackwell's photography program she knew Mark Jefferson was the one in charge of Language of Photography, and she was craving to learn from him. She also let her inner Hermione Granger out and scarfed down all the books she had before the very first class. Victoria has always been fond of photography, and she had her favorite artists, so it was gratifying for her to be in this program.

It wasn't as bad as she thought, but there was this one thing that was making Victoria lose it. Shaped in a human form with lame freckles all over her face, as Victoria repeated to herself like a mantra since they first met in the dorms hallway. 'Max Caulfield has lame and not cute freckles all over her face.'

She repeated it 26 times whenever she caught herself thinking about Max's face. One for each freckle Max has on her face, because yes, she finally got to recount those damn freckles and the one she has above her lip wasn't a chocolate spot. Victoria didn't know how Kate Marsh could deal with doing this everyday. Several times.

Caulfield stunk like hipster, and she wasn't wrong about that. She'd been using a bloody Polaroid to take photos instead of a proper camera. How did she afford taking so many shots with that vintage piece of shit? The model she used wasn't even one of the best ones.

Victoria wouldn't have complained so much if she'd been using another Polaroid, but no, she used the shittiest model. Thank God she didn't have the Barbie one. Or even worse, the Spice Girl's model. The blonde cursed all the deities she knew for recalling the Spice Girls, as she spent the rest of the day angrily singing in a loop 'If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. Make it last forever, friendship never ends!'

Also, new films for Polaroids cost like, 20$ a packet of 8, and she'd been taking way more than 8 shots a day. Moreover, the blonde cringed every time she saw Max shaking the films.

She might've been good at choosing the target for her photos, but shaking the film was such a noob mistake she just wanted to step out of her hiding place and yell her to stop. Original films needed to be shaken to help them dry, but with the current films you could ruin the photo by doing it, as they got dry behind the plastic window that came with the negative, so it never touched the air.

Yes, Victoria knew because she'd been furtively observing her. But only because she wanted to know her secret. Jefferson had been praising her 'undeniable talent for photography', and she seemed to have all his attention. That was unacceptable for Victoria. The blonde just wanted some recognition because she was the Queen. And because she's been working really hard to improve her shots and all she got was a few compliments about her style, not her photos.

The weekend came, and Victoria was supposed to go to a Vortex Club soirée because she was one of the leaders, but she didn't really feel like it. She was just too tired.

After spending the summer with Courtney and Taylor in her family's house in LA she wasn't used to her new schedule. Classes started at 10 am, but there was a new routine to get used to, so the first weekend she felt kind of smashed. Not that she spent those 48 hours locked in her room. She obviously went out for a coffee with the rest of the Vortex Club members to catch up with them, and they obviously made her promise to go out the following weekend.

She felt tempted to stay after the coffee, but she finally went back to the dorms to get some rest as she figured they'd have the whole year to party like animals. Not that… she herself was an animal. Of course not. Royalty didn't associate itself with common beasts.

Victoria had plenty of things to deal with, and she couldn't forget she was in Blackwell to learn as much as possible about photography, so she had her priorities. That weekend she decided to go to bed early and make the most of her spare time.

On Sunday, Victoria woke up at a decent hour and went out to the lighthouse so she could take some shots and get used to her new camera. She chose a Nikon D300s because she thought it would be useful, as well as necessary, to have a professional camera. That turned out to be a wise move, but learning every tiny detail of this camera was a royal pain in the ass. What actually surprised Victoria was that nowadays photography had a lot of editing to it.

Of course you had to take the photo as polished as you can, controlling the aspects with the camera's body, but it was as important as taking the photo the later edition. You need to spot the perfect angle after choosing your target, and then adjust the parameters for the aperture of the camera's diaphragm, the shutter speed and the ISO, otherwise the photo would be trash. Trash, like that… Trashfield and her… trashy shaken Polaroids and… fucking cute- lame! 26! Trashy! Freckles!

FOCUS!

She snapped herself out of that.

That was a hell of a challenge, but polishing it to make it perfect with Photoshop was something each and every amateur photographer shouldn't take lightly.

Victoria went to the lighthouse to improve her landscape shots, because she was more a portrait kind of shots photographer. She liked to capture the feelings you could see in someone else's eyes. The blonde liked to give strength to her photos by taking them in black and white. It really helped to convey the feelings she wanted to show in her shots.

She'd been so focused on improving her portraits she forgot to work on her landscape shots, so there she was trying to fix that little problem. After spending 4 hours taking photos, Victoria's camera (and body) was running out of battery, and she decided it was time to go back home and have some rest. She drove back to Blackwell and parked her discreet car, a convertible Audi, in the parking lot. Once inside the building, she saw again the face with 26 freckles that gives her major headaches only by breathing in the same space as she did.

"Hi Victoria!" Said Max shyly.

She just got out of Dana's room, probably because she was her new slave. There was no way she'd befriended someone like Dana.

Victoria tried to say hi to the girl, but instead she let out a grunt. The blonde could read the other girl's 'What a B!' inner comment written on her face. She didn't give it a second thought anyway. She got into her room and closed the door behind her, ready to call it a day, and therefore, to call it a week. And what a first week…


	2. This is War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, I'm back! Just a quick note to express my eternal gratitude to DasCheesenborgir for holding my hand throughout the process of writing this. This wouldn't have happened without your help. I love you, brah!

_I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine. I got a love and I know that is all mine._  
_Do what you want but you’re never gonna break me._  
_Stick and stones are never gonna shake me._

Victoria’s eyes flicked open, and she cursed at the vacant emptiness in the room that greeted her. She’d fallen asleep with her phone last night, as she’d been quite entranced in waging her holy war with some asshole on Tumblr about the matchmaking of navy clothing with camel accessories. Of course they matched, but people couldn’t seem to understand it, not even on Tumblr. Victoria knew because the lady working at Louis Vuitton store in les Champs-Élysées told her when she was trying to combine two different colors. As much as Victoria liked to pretend she knew French, she didn’t. And it wasn’t until she began to sweat frantically trying to explain the lady in hastily butchered and cobbled together French that she didn’t know if the color matched properly when the woman took pity on her and replied in a perfect American accent. Chicago accent, to be precise. Alas. Victoria embarrassed herself. But no one would ever know anyway.

Last night her eyes were all itchy while in the midst of her tumultuous battle, because all she did was scratch, and the more her eyes itched, the more Victoria scratched. It was certainly the Itchy and Scratchy show. At some point she fell asleep with the phone glued to her face, and there it remained. Glued to Victoria’s face and now aggressively buzzing while that horribly catchy song was playing on a loop. The blonde smacked her face out of surprise, trying to make the noise stop. It didn’t work the first time, but she was successful the second time.

The Self-Proclaimed Queen of Blackwell took a deep breath trying to recover from the shock.

_I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine. I got a love and I know that is all mine._  
_Do what you want but you’re never gonna break me._  
_Stick and stones are never gonna shake me._

Victoria cursed again, louder this time. Instead of checking the amount of alarms she had set in, she grabbed the phone and threw it against the wall on the other side of the room. The song stopped playing, thank God. She could swear she had snoozed the alarm, but who’s to say. Victoria was an early bird, not because she wanted to, but because she needed to. She usually woke up very early in the morning to be ready when everyone else woke up, not meaning she actually enjoyed it. A Queen has to do what a Queen has to do.

_I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine. I got a love and I know that is all mine._  
_Do what you want but you’re never gonna break me._  
_Stick and stones are never gonna shake me._

“Are you kidding me?!?” Victoria wailed when she heard the song playing again. That was ridiculous!

There were plenty of things Victoria Chase disliked. Being harassed by the unreasonable amount of alarms she set was one of them. Even though there was no one else to blame but herself.

She leaped out of the sumptuous nest of scrambled sheets on her bed and strode across the room, whipping her incessantly buzzing phone with a vicious kick and finally silencing it… possibly breaking it as well, she realized as it sailed through the air and collided with the far wall with an alarming ‘crack’. Of course, that wasn’t what actually elicited a sharp mental curse from her.

_Shit!_

It was a nice phone, but there would be another. However, she kicked the phone with such brutal force her foot ended up collapsing with the wardrobe. Milliseconds passed by as her eloquent mental reaction was carried on frayed nerve endings to her lips- a shrill screech that would’ve made Taylor proud rippled out, as her poor little pinky toe was presumably a casualty as a result of her fierce attempt to regain control over technology. She might have been the undercover Queengeek of Arcadia Bay, but she’d never be a nerd.

“Now, it’s three in the morning, and I’m trying to change your mind.” She said out loud.

She stopped short and let out a surprise noise. “What the…? No, that’s an Arctic Monkeys song. It’s seven in the morning, and I’m trying to get my things for taking a shower.”

Victoria gently slapped herself to wake up, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

“Hey! How dare you?!” She said pointing to herself when she realized she’d just slapped herself. No one dared slapping Victoria Chase, not even herself.

The on-going zombie monologue she’d just performed was beyond stupid and annoying. She knew it.

“Jesus. I need a hot shower.” Victoria whined. She grabbed ‘ses affaires’ (as she liked to call her vanity kit filled with absurdly expensive lotions) and headed to the bathroom.

There wasn’t anyone wandering around the hallways, and Victoria felt immediately relieved. She didn’t give a single fuck about peasants, but there was this certain pleasure in having the bathrooms just for her. That was the truly reason she woke up earlier than everyone else to take a shower.

People who weren’t smart enough to mind their own business would have thought she’d get ready in a minute because of her garçon (yet extremely trendy) haircut. They were wrong. Victoria spent twice the amount of time Taylor used to in getting ready. Her friend had this every day ritual of burning the hair out of her head with the straighteners Victoria gave Taylor as a birthday present. GHD. 200 bucks (pocket money for her), mind everyone. The order of the factors will not affect the product in any case, and the point was, Victoria needed to look flawless. No more, no less; each and every day.

Thinking about the brutal fight Taylor enjoyed holding against her hair, Victoria stepped into the shower and opened the faucet. She then took off her underwear and let the water soak her body.

“MOtherFUCkeEEeR!!!!” She yelled at the top of her lungs the moment the ice-cold water touched her, nipples ready to rip off the eyes of any filthy peasant who dared look at them.

The water quickly turned into a boiling volcano ready to melt her life.

“HOT!!” She yelled, pressing her back to the wall. “COLD!!” She yelled again.

A bystander might have thought she was performing the famous song by Katy Perry. The blonde didn’t dislike the idea. She liked Katy Perry.

“Are you okay??” A voice came from outside the shower.

Victoria turned around abruptly due to the shock. What the frick frack diddily dack was going on there? She wondered. Unfortunately, the movement was too abrupt to be processed by the slippery floor, and just because Victoria was a Queen didn’t mean she had the ability of magically sticking her feet to the floor. Therefore, in a very hilarious moment seen from the outside, she found herself grasping the curtain to avoid falling to the floor. Curtains were immediately processed as mean entities that deserved to be crucified and burnt for their heretical spite for the Queen, because obviously. The one in Victoria’s hands couldn’t bear her weight and ripped off the rings. The blonde rolled on herself –curtain included- and ended up on the floor wrapped like a cocoon.

She let out a long suffocated cry, punching everywhere in order to free herself from the unexpected prison.

At some point to the fight with the filthy curtain Victoria accidentally hit something that felt awkwardly soft. Presumably belly-soft type of mass. There was a short, yet intense high-pitched scream before the pair of hands returned to the action, trying to FREE HER.

Victoria hopped several times until her head popped out of the unpredicted cocoon, her hair a wet-haystack mess and her petite lips bearing a horrid snarl more befitting a beast. Who else would it be to see her in such a sorry and battered state than Maxine Caulfield?

Great. Terrific.

“Let me out!” The blonde said angrily, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I’m trying to!” Max stopped her actions to reply.

Desperate measures for desperate times. Max pushed Victoria’s body so she rolled in the opposite direction that had her trapped. The blonde ended up lying on her stomach, yes, but she was finally free to go. She stood on her knees, in a very embarrassing position. All Victoria hoped that there wasn’t any hidden camera in the bathroom. Otherwise it would capture her in a ‘I’m about to enjoy a gang-bang’ position.

However, a Queen didn’t (couldn’t) show any weaknesses at all, and she stood up with all the pride her perfect body was able to give her. Facing a tremendously embarrassed Max –whose face was almost literally on fire-, Victoria stared at her placing a hand on her hip.

“Thanks. Let’s do it again some time.” The blonde winked an eye at the mortified brown-haired girl and got into another shower, closing the curtain behind her.

Once inside, Victoria waited until she heard the bathroom’s door closing, meaning Max got out. She low-key let out an ungodly amount of expletives that was hardly appropriate for royalty while turning on the water again. Without touching it, of course. She didn’t want another “situation” to happen. Only when the water was perfect, like her, she let the liquid soak her body and relaxed a little bit.

“I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine. I got a love and I know that is all mine, oh. OoooOOOOh.” She started singing lowly.

Victoria paused her chanting to pay attention so she could know if there was anyone out there. It was too early for people to be in the bathroom, so she resumed her chant, very euphoric indeed this time.

“TAKE ME AWaAAaYY, A SECRET PLAaACeEE. A SWEET ESCAaAAPE, ON HOLIDaaAAY! I got a po…”

“VICTORIA?!?”

What was it with the interruptions that morning? Victoria couldn’t believe it. Taylor just busted her.

“WHAT?”

“Why were you singing to lame Natasha Bedingfield?”

Field. Like… NO.

“Nothing. It’s just that I saw Easy A last night on Netflix. That’s a really catchy song. Have it stuck in my head, ugh.”

“Ah. I really liked the part where Emma Stone gets all slutty. Like in the book. With the red A and everything. That was awesome.”

“Whatever.” Victoria said. Taylor didn’t know anything at all about The Scarlett Letter, did she? “I have to go now.” She said as a goodbye.

“Number two?” Taylor asked.

“EUH! Taylor! Why you have to be so gross?” Victoria was scandalized.

“Come on! Everybody needs to go number two every so often!” She retorted, looking very amused by the thought. “In fact, do you remember when we went to Portland to buy some clothes before the summer began? Well, when I said I needed to call my mom I actually…”

“NO!” Victoria shouted to cut Taylor. “I don’t want to know! Whatever it is!”

Victoria turned around and went straight to her room, trying to forget EVERYTHING that happened back in the bathroom. She blushed aggressively when she thought of Max’s eyes scanning her body, but she didn’t want to give it a second thought. She had to get ready for her second weeks of classes, which was precisely the reason she was in Blackwell. Well, what a way of starting the week…

 

* * *

 

The second week of classes was, as a matter of fact, almost a copy of the first one. That Monday Victoria found her morning ritual briefly interrupted by Maxine Caulfield, the stealthy girl from Seattle, and she headed to the main building, ready for a day full of classes. Every day was almost a bleakly black and white photocopy of the previous day…. Class, bitch about someone, class, bitch about someone else, little break to have lunch, class, bitch about another person, class, and finally bitch about plenty of people until it was time to have dinner and spend some bloody time alone without bloody listening to bloody bitchy comments. Victoria had a subtle British vein when she was angry. Taylor and Courtney never understood why. Those bloody nosy parkers, always taking the piss. They would never get to know why Victoria always laughed like a dork whenever they said they were “going to toss this”. The blonde choked every time she remembered telling Taylor she was “a tosser” for “tossing” things. Taylor shrugged and agreed, saying it made sense.

Until Wednesday. Victoria wished Wednesday never happened, because Wednesday shouldn’t have happened. Ever. No Wednesdays. No more Wednesdays for Victoria. But it’s not like she could have wiped away a day of the calendar.

There were plenty of things Victoria Chase disliked. The usage of the Gregorian calendar in the United States of America proceeded to be one of those things that precise Wednesday. Fuck the Pope Gregory XIII for adopting it.

No, not really. Victoria firmly believed in karma, so she didn’t want to cuss at a dead Pope, whatsoever.

But what the heck happened that Wednesday? Well, the day started pretty much like any other day. Victoria woke up to a ridiculous song early in the morning, she had a shower, got ready, and headed to classes with her beloved gal pals. It was all good, all very much alike any other day. Until Language of Photography with Mark Jefferson started…

It was a hell of an interesting lesson that day. They talked about Anne Leibovitz, a photographer famous for her portraits. She had worked for magazines like Vogue and Rolling Stones, and she photographed John Lennon with Yoko Ono the day he was shot. Who, for the love of a wide-angle lens, couldn’t know Annie Leibovitz? (for the record, Taylor didn’t. That girl was so going to be the end of Victoria) Well, Victoria knew everything about her, and about any other photographer, mind everyone. At some point, Mr. Jefferson couldn’t bear any more of the blonde’s petulant attitude, at that was probably the trigger for the worst Wednesday ever. He proposed a compulsory assignment in pairs and he assigned Victoria with… Victoria was looking at Taylor, nodding intensely. But no, he paired Victoria with Max Caulfield. Jefferson sure was internally laughing, as it almost felt like a recurrent idea for a fanfiction. Wow, how original. Pairing the shy quirky girl of the class with the greatest girl of the class. Victoria. With Max Caulfield. Also known as: Lamefield, Suckfield, Gayfield, Loserfield, Geekfield, Hipsterfield, and so on. It was entirely not Victoria’s fault the Tiny Hipster surname was so punny. Victoria even overheard once Warren calling her ‘Mad Max’. Lordie. ‘Mad Max’? Really? Maybe when she arrived at the gates of Valhalla, shiny and chrome; calling Max ‘Mad’ was way too surreal for this life.

Damn right Victoria complained about it. She spent like 15 minutes arguing with Jefferson because she wanted to be with her friend Taylor, but the teacher kept refusing. Eventually he got tired and stated the reasons why he put Victoria with Max:

1\. Max Caulfield was the shyest student (oh, that was news…) of the class and Victoria was the most outgoing student of the class. He thought they’d help each other to improve their works and maybe Victoria will help Max fit in the group.

2\. Victoria and Taylor were close friends and therefore, used to work together. Jefferson said ‘magic happens when you’re out of your comfort zone’, so he wasn’t letting Victoria work with someone she knew that well.

Bullshit. That was all Victoria could think about his reasoning.

“I don’t want to work with her!” Victoria barked.

“I’m not asking you what you want or not.” Jefferson replied with his usual indifference, unbending even in the face of the bloody Queen’s wrath.

Victoria simply couldn’t believe it. She didn’t want to work with Caulfield, although at that point she wasn’t really sure why. She turned around and saw Maxine Frecklesfield alternating between staring at her and the floor. My, my. Cooperate with this tiny little human? It could actually be fun, Victoria guessed. Were she bored and or fed up with her presence, she could harass her in a subtle sibylline way just for fun.

However, Victoria sighed in frustration. Max furrowed her brows as a response. She was starting to get angry at Victoria’s aggressive reaction to work with her, as she hadn’t done anything at all to get that feedback from her.

“Can you just pretend you stand me and be nice for once?” Maxine managed to ask her.

The question took Victoria by surprise, and sort of amused her.

“I’m not nice, Max. I bitch… Hard.” Victoria said, chuckling softly.

Jefferson was following the conversation, ready to intercede if Victoria crossed the line, but he raised a brow when he heard that. Victoria cleared her throat to snap out of it. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to drop 50 shades of Grey lines so lightly, but she was thinking of all the things she could do involving the unholy book and that little thing she had hidden in her room.

“FINE. But I’m not willing to deal with her if she gets the Asperger, as usual. We’ll do it MY way.” Victoria hissed.

Max looked to the floor and held her arm, clearly hurt by Victoria’s comment.

Victoria stormed out of the class, leaving the teacher and Max confused by her reaction. She went to her room straight away, realizing she was actually going to have to work with Maxine Caulfield and her 26 stupidly cute freckles. She was really frustrated and just wanted to forget all that crap the teacher pulled on her. Victoria knew exactly what she had to do to let it go. She opened the little box she had hidden on her wardrobe, and opened it deliberately slow. There it was. Oh yeah, there it was. Exactly what she needed. What she craved for.

Her The Sims 3 copy for Mac OS.

Yes. She would just play Sims 3 for a while and make that nasty Caulfield fall in love with her so she could break her heart and then play with her a while, calling her when she wanted to get all naughty. Goddamn. Victoria was pretty amused by the thought. She could even see the plot of “50 shades of Grey” being carried away over Sims 3 with a few mods. Maxine was going to pay for her shy submissive attitude by being a fulltime submissive. Hehe. Hell yeah.

However, Victoria didn’t even have time to launch the game. She heard a knock on her door and shut her computer immediately. Whatever. She would start her ‘little adventure’ later on that night. After all, she didn’t want anyone to know that she liked casual games (and was expecting something bigger to come out next week) like The Sims. Victoria, stood up, and opened the door to meet a very agitated Taylor.

“Have you seen The Blackwell Totem?” She said really fast. So fast Victoria didn’t get the last part.

“Have I seen what?” Victoria asked.

“The Blackwell Totem! Like, the article Juliet wrote about our Vortex Club. I mean, wow! She’s in the Vortex Club! What was she thinking?” Taylor vomited out.

“The Vortex Club a cult? What the…” Victoria muttered.

Taylor handed her friend a copy of the article, and Victoria took her time to read it. When she finished, Victoria’s jaw was not on the floor, but on the foundations of the building.

“I know, right.” Taylor nervously said. Probably expecting the British accent.

“We’re gonna have a little bit of fun, Tails.” Victoria hissed like an angry snake.  
Taylor was afraid of Victoria’s reaction even more then. She saw her picking up her phone and writing something, but didn’t dare asking what and to whom she was writing. Just a minute later, the reply came.

“Whoa, looks like Zachary’s all in.” Victoria laughed.

She had a plan. Victoria Chase always had a plan.

 

* * *

 

Victoria’s plan was very twisted, but it worked neatly. Her plan was to sext Zachary just for the sake of pissing off Juliet, and the jock immediately fell for it. She told him she was just wearing her crystal necklace, and Zachary probably had an instant boner, as he told Victoria he was ‘sitting on his football’. She had no interest at all on the oversexed jock, but that statement was a libido killer. Who the hell says that? Victoria and Taylor laughed at him for a really long time.

Just some hours later, Juliet discovered the whole affaire, as someone let the cat out of the bag. Anyhow, it turned out to be super effective, and they broke up that very same afternoon. Victoria was clearly exultant, until she faced Juliet in the cafeteria. No one could’ve prepared the Queen of Blackwell for what happened that Thursday, or the next day.

She was enjoying her salad right on the same spot she usually did, Taylor and Courtney by her side, alternating between animatedly parting intentionally censored thoughts to each other and shooting deadly glares at any vagrant passer-by. There was no need to verbalize the famous ‘You can’t sit with us!’.

Victoria let a succulent leaf of lettuce roll around her tongue lazily as she paused to consider just what her loyal guardians were so excitedly jabbering about. They were chatting about this month headlight; Beyoncé on the cover of Vogue magazine. Taylor was passionately talking about the artist’s live performances, while Courtney was trying to direct the chat into Beyoncé’s great figure as the ultimate empowered woman.

“Nothing can beat Beyoncé’s performance in this year Super Bowl half time.”

“Not even the Spice Girls come back for last year’s Olympic Games opening?”

“You kidding me? Are you really comparing those wrinkly old bags with the great Beyoncé? ”

“What do you think, Victoria?”

Victoria grunted.

“See? She agrees with me!”

“Come on! Beyoncé is the greatest woman ever made… by other woman. She’s so fierce, powerful and positive… Gives me a girl boner every time, I’m telling you. Don’t you think, Victoria?”

Victoria grunted again. She was listening, but she wasn’t paying any attention.

The blonde actually agreed with whatever they were both saying. Beyoncé was truly the image itself of feminism, and she was also a hell of a great singer. No doubt about it. But Victoria’s eyes and attention were glued to another person; Juliet Watson. She watched the offending peasant’s movements like a cybernetic eagle that had its eyes gouged out and replaced with laser guided plasma telescopes, as Juliet grabbed a greasy-ass carton of fries and soaked them with ketchup.

That fat ass Veronica Mars wannabe… Victoria still didn’t believe how easy it was to tear her relationship apart with Zachary. Couple of risqué messages and he was digging the blonde’s body. “Sitting on my football.” Victoria was still dumbstruck by that. Really, who the hell says that? And of course, Victoria wasn’t stupid, so she knew Max Caulfield busted her. She’d steal her beloved chocolate cookies in exchange for that. Salads kept your body in shape, but that lovely chocolate smell? She might just grab the damn cookies for the sake of doing it. And maybe send the girl a photo while she’s on it. Because Victoria Chase always got what she wanted, and if she wanted the cookies she’d just take them. Like she did with Zachary. Only that she didn’t want that dipshit, for sure. Victoria just wanted to show Juliet who ruled in Blackwell.

Victoria’s mind almost exploded in joy when Juliet and Dana sat on the table in front of them. She had a plan. As usual.

“You know who asked me on a date?” The blonde said, raising her voice with every word.

“What? Who?!?” Courtney inquired in shock.

“You didn’t tell us about your latest love interest, V.” Taylor chuckled.

“Zachary Riggins!” Victoria said raising her voice even more, to the point of almost shouting.

“Really?” Taylor asked, clearly surprised. “But I thought you weren’t, you know, really into him…” She continued, lowering her voice so only the other girls could hear her.

“Yes! He almost begged me to go see him in the football game. He’s going to take me out for dinner after!” Victoria practically bellowed throughout the entire room, her voice taking on a sudden and alarming shrillness to it as it momentarily eclipsed the bustle of the cafeteria.

Whatever little ounce of embarrassment that twanged at her cheeks in the wake of that kerfuffle was swiftly snuffed out, however. A nasty smirk creeped up the edges of her lips as she noticed Juliet’s eyes in particular going wide like the big fat saucers of greasy shitfood she had laid out in front of her.

“Don’t you…” Juliet stood up off her chair and faced Victoria, but Dana grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“No, Dana. I got this.” She shoved her friend’s grasp. “Do you have no shame at all?” She asked Victoria with anger in her eyes.

“Shame? What would I be ashamed of? I don’t look like a failed attempt of Hannah Montana like you do. Wearing a leather jacket with a skirt and high boots? You were born when that was trendy.” Blonde threw up the words.

“Look, all my life I’ve been good, but now…” Juliet began.

“Now what? You want to jump from Hannah Montana to Avril Lavigne?” Victoria pressed on mercilessly, projecting her voice out to the ample crowd witnessing this prelude to a clusterfuck.

There was no need to shout, really, seeing how they were all already sitting in patient and obedient silence, just waiting for the spark that would light up the thick incises of volatile gas hanging in the air.

“What the hell?!?” The anger in Juliet’s tone was greatly amusing Victoria.

“SEE?” Victoria’s screechy cackling increased to the point of being really annoying, even for bystanders. She stood up and faced Juliet. “You’re just a frustrated cliché. Go find an interview elsewhere, Veronica Mars.”

To her momentary surprise and disappointment, Juliet didn’t continue the cacophonous debate with her own rebuttal. The girl’s brows hardened, her eyes narrowing… it wasn’t a sort of expression Victoria often saw, being the venerated Queen of Blackwell.

Maybe that was why she didn’t quite register the amount of shit she was truly in until it was too late.

“Victoria, you have something on your face.” Juliet said.

Without prior warning she grabbed her big fat greasy carton of big fat greasy fries, and shoved them into Victoria’s face, grinding the thick slabs of oiled potato against her skin. Deliberately slow.

Taylor clapped her mouth with both her hands.

Courtney shrieked when she saw the ketchup dripping Victoria’s cashmere. She just bought it from the Louis Vuitton’s autumn collection. She loved that cashmere.

Dana’s eyes bulged. She looked like Michael Jackson.

Victoria was left speechless as Juliet suddenly ceased her seemingly relentless assault; mouth left dangling open like the few deep fried crumbs of breading that still stuck to her face. She wiped the ketchup from her eyes, only to widen her mouth even more when she was able to see, as the first thing she saw was Juliet smug smile plastered on her face.

“I think you should shut your dick holster, Victoria. If you keep opening it, that football my ex boyfriend was sitting on might fit in perfectly.” Juliet triumphantly spat out.

Victoria didn’t even have time to think. Her whole body was aching to react. She glanced at the table and saw Courtney’s chocolate pudding. The blonde, already feeling horribly tarnished, had no qualms about dipping her manicured hands into it and swiftly flicking a great clot of the viscous brown foodstuff at Juliet’s face.

Juliet’s expression twisted into a grimace when she felt the food inside her nose, and couldn’t hold the sneeze that came after a second. She tried to cover her nose with the hand, but the chocolate sprayed everywhere, even on Dana’s cheerleader outfit.

_Alea iacta est._

Juliet leapt for Victoria’s throat, and Victoria was more than glad to reciprocate. But they didn’t count on the floor, which had a disgusting layer of congealing ketchup and chocolate pudding. When Victoria’s hands were on Juliet’s hair, ready to pull it, and Juliet’s hands were right on Victoria’s short hair, their feet slipped and they both ended up on the floor.

That was the ultimate trigger for what was about to come, as Taylor filled her hand with some more chocolate pudding and stood up in her chair.

“FOOD FIGHT!” Taylor’s signature banshee wail served her well as she bellowed the ultimatum everyone was waiting for at the top of her lungs, right before throwing the rest of the pudding in Dana’s direction.

It landed on the cheerleader’s temple, but there wasn’t any time to get angry. Weaponized food projectiles were already flying everywhere.

There were plenty of screams and projectiles to impose the martial law in the Academy, and obviously the cafeteria workers retreated discreetly, feeling they didn’t want to take part in any of what was going on.

Juliet scrabbled on the filthy floor around her with a hand, trying to find purchase in even the smallest morsel of grease to attack Victoria. Her hand wrapped around what it seemed a lost filled bun, and she took advantage of her position on top of Victoria, stuffing it into her mouth.

“Sorry it’s not a dick, but at least you have your mouth full now.” Juliet shouted to the terrified blonde.

Victoria spat the food right to Juliet’s face, making her sit up straight as a crumb got stuck in her eye.

That allowed Victoria to shove Juliet’s body and grab the can of diet coke she was drinking from the table. She sprayed the liquid all over Juliet’s face with a smirk.

“Right how you like it, bitch. All over your face.” Victoria shouted, choking a laugh.

This wasn’t the United Kingdom, but the reigning anarchy in the situation would have certainly pleased the very Sex Pistols.

“EVERYBODY DROP THE WEAPONS!” David’s words echoed in the cafeteria.

The action suddenly stopped, as if David had pressed the pause button.

Victoria and Juliet heads poked up the nearest table. This was their entire fault. The cafeteria was a food mess, but their eyes were focused on the security guy and the Principal Wells, who were scouting the student body.

“Who’s responsible for this?” Wells asked in a hoarse voice. He was possibly drunk.

Both Victoria and Juliet cringed when they saw dozens of fingers pointing at them, but they eventually stood up.

“Ms. Chase and Ms. Watson. My office. Now.” He said with a steady yet authoritative voice.

The blondes slowly started walking to the main entrance of the room. It felt like a funeral.

“Bitch.” Juliet whispered to Victoria when they were about to arrive.

“Skank.” Victoria snapped back, whispering as well.

Principal Wells held the door for the girls, and got out of the room right behind them, leaving David Madsen to control the mob.

“I WANT TO SEE EVERYONE’S FACE ON THE FLOOR IN FIVE.” He bellowed.

 

* * *

 

Victoria held the phone on her hand, letting out a long sigh. She opened the messages and texted Courtney and Taylor.

My room in 5. Bring your brain full of ideas, pls.

Not even 5 minutes she had to wait, as 2 minutes went by and the girls knocked on her door. When Victoria opened it to let them in, they were panting like they’d just a marathon.

“What happened?” Courtney managed to ask in between pants.

“That bitch told the Principal I started everything, that happened.” Victoria slurred.

“Did he believe her?” Courtney asked her, still panting.

“I used by best puppy eyes to convince him about my innocence once he dismissed her. I managed to get us one day of detention next week after classes.” Victoria sighed.

“The security guys made us clean the mess. It wasn’t that bad though. There were a bunch of us. Finished in like, 15 minutes.” Taylor explained, event though Victoria wasn’t interested; she didn’t take her eyes off her nails.

“That bitch, she’s gonna pay for what she’s done.” Victoria stated, eyes still glued to her nails. Her manicure was spoiled because of Juliet; perhaps it would only be fitting now to weaponize them by filing them into perfect little serrated edges.

“Come on, Vicky. We all had fun with the food fight! Wouldn’t it be better to let it be?” Taylor said, trying to calm Victoria’s mood.

She failed.

“Who the fuck are you? John Lennon? We’re not letting it be.” Victoria spat.

Taylor sighed, clearly frustrated and hurt due to Victoria’s sharp remark. Courtney was still panting. She was bended, holding her knees with both her hands. She really should stop smoking.

“I’ll tell you what we’re gonna do. Tomorrow 1pm SHARP. We’re gonna head to the store and buy some blue dye, then we’re gonna head back to Blackwell, sneak into her room, and replace her hair mask with the hair dyer. That’s important, ladies. If we replace it for the shampoo, she’s gonna wash her hair and it won’t work. But if we replace it for the mask she’ll leave it for at least 10 minutes while taking her shower. Then we’ll go back to classes, and wait. Is everything clear?”

“When are we going to eat?”

“God, Taylor! You’re on a low-carb diet, you’ll survive without having lunch one day.”

Taylor frowned her lips in sadness. She didn’t want to skip lunch, but it was true that she was on a low-carb diet. Taylor just hoped she could fit in the dress she bought last week for the Vortex Club party.

 

* * *

 

Juliet went to her room right after classes that day. Dana had her cheerleading practice, and she needed to do some proofreading for the newspaper. It was just a quick thing, but now that Zachary and her broke up thanks to that slutty Victoria, she just didn’t have anything else to do. Juliet just published her article about the Vortex Club and now she was half investigating and half waiting for instruction on what to write about next.

Fucking Victoria. She started the fight with her comments about Zachary asking her on a date. And she fell for it, even though Juliet knew it was a filthy lie. That bitch managed to provoke her and start a food fight, so now both of them had detention next week. Juliet wondered if the Bitch of Arcadia Bay went down on Principal Wells to get them just one day of detention.

After some good 30 minutes, she had finished her work, so she thought it was a good idea to take a long shower and treat herself a little bit. She took her vanity kit and headed to the bathroom.

Once the water was properly hot, she stepped in and began showering. Juliet thought of Zachary while she was under the stream, with her eyes closed. What an asshole, that piece of shit. Sexting Victoria as a joke… Bullshit. To get him off her mind she started singing Katy Perry’s latest hit. It was a pretty lame song, but really catchy.

Suddenly, something didn’t felt right. Her scalp was very itchy. REALLY itchy. She scratched it a few times and thought it was actually very weird. Her hair masked used to make her feel really good, leaving the hair like satin and shiny. Weird.

She moved her head under the stream of water and cleared her hair. As usual, 15 minutes with the hair mask on left her hair neat.

But she looked down. She shouldn’t have looked down. But she did.

The floor was blue. And her hands.

“Oh oh.” She whispered.

Juliet wrapped her body with the towel and stepped outside the shower just to meet her reflection on the mirror.

2 minutes later she wasn’t done screaming and letting out expletives.

Her fucking hair was blue. Fucking blue. Blazing bright azure like a goddamn comet streaking through the fucking night sky.

Victoria.

Dana got into the bathroom looking completely terrified.

“What’s going on? Are you hurt? Did Victo….” The rest of the sentence got lost when Dana actually saw Juliet.

“Jules, I don’t want to alert you… But you hair is… It’s kinda… It’s...” Dana couldn’t finish the sentence. “Blue.” She managed to say.

Juliet started crying like a baby when the word came out of Dana’s mouth. The cheerleader hugged her tightly, tapping her head and whispering sweet words.

When Juliet stopped sobbing (30 minutes later), Dana had already figured out a plan.

“Look, Juliet, we’re gonna make that bitch pay. Trust me.” She murmured softly.

“I don’t see how.” Juliet blubbered.

“Just trust me. I’m gonna go out for a second, and you’re gonna dry your hair, and wait for me in your room, okay?” Said Dana with a smirk.

“Okay.” Juliet replied with a weak sob.

“You just need to do two things for me. First, you’re gonna chin up a little bit. You look stunning even with your hair blue.” Dana pinched her friend’s cheeks softly, making her chuckle. “Second, you’re gonna text Victoria with your number hidden, and tell her you’re Nathan. Ask her to meet you in around half an hour in her room. Okay?”

“Okay.” Juliet agreed.

Dana hugged her friend even more tightly, then squeezed her hand before breaking the contact and heading to the door.

“Where’s my smile?” She asked Juliet when she was about to leave.

Juliet smiled weakly, but when Dana rolled her eyes to her, she couldn’t help giggling. How cute was that?

Dana had a plan. And she also had Juliet’s full trust.

 

* * *

 

Dana rushed her way to her room. She got in, and immediately took out her cheerleader out, replacing it for her running _short_ shorts, and a regular tank top. She grabbed 20 dollars from her purse and adjusted the armband for her iPod on her left arm.

It only took Dana 30 seconds to find the perfect song for the task. Exactly the time it took her to get out of the dorms.

_The Prodigy: Smack my bitch up._

Dana pressed the button play, and started running. She ran like the Devil was chasing her; like her life depended on it. She ran looking at the front, without looking at anything else than her final destination: Walmart.

Once she arrived, she slowed down and headed to the hair products. Dana scanned all the products until she spotted the hair dyes she was looking for. Fantasy colors. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the one Dana was looking for, but she took the semi permanent pink dye, as she thought Victoria would go into full berserker mode the minute she’d see her reflection on the mirror. Everyone in Blackwell knew that Victoria was a low-key geek, so Dana was actually doing her a favor by turning her into a living anime character.

On her way out, Dana took three rolls of duct tape, and packet of permanent markers. That’d be enough.

Dana quickly paid the products and ignored the amused look the cashier gifted her when he saw the products and her, sweating profusely due to the revenge race.

It only took Dana 30 seconds to find the next perfect song for the task of coming back to Blackwell.

_The Prodigy: Breathe._

She rolled the bag so she could hold it tightly, pressed the button play, and started running like the Devil was chasing her again.

Let’s get this party started.

 

* * *

 

Victoria didn’t see it coming. She didn’t have a clue of what, or more like whom, was waiting at her door. When she heard the soft knock, she opened the door ready to greet Nathan. But Nathan wasn’t there, and before she couldn’t even react, a piece of duct tape forcefully wrapped her mouth. Then again, without having time to scream or react at all, Juliet made her spin while Dana wrapped her arms to her body, just to finally lift her off her feet and carry her to the bathroom like a useless bag of potatoes. Actually, a bag of potatoes was more useful than Victoria in that moment, as you could eat them.

She felt completely defenseless, as she fought against the duct tape during the whole process. But she was really firmly wrapped to her own body. Victoria’s feeling were a mixture of anger and fear. What the actual fuck was going there? They weren’t going to kill her, right? RIGHT?

Victoria actually feared for the life when Dana dropped her to the floor and added some more duct tape to make sure she wouldn’t be able to free herself. Dana made her kneel, and by that time, Victoria was paralyzed in fear.

But Dana and Juliet weren’t planning to kill her. Technically.

Victoria felt the water soaking her hair, and she knew exactly what was going to happen. Her eyes were about to fall out of her sockets when she felt a pair of hands applying a product to her perfect garçon haircut.

Holy. Fuck.

“You like to play hairdresser, don’t you?” Juliet said out loud. “Well, I’m going to give the ultimate ‘ _I’m a Disney princess_ ’ look.”

Victoria started to yell frantically, but all sounds got lost in the duct tape. All she could think about was ‘not pink, you bitches’, but the words weren’t helping her in that moment.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. We have more surprises for you.” Dana said with a smirk.

“I believe you love your offensive wardrobe stack, no? Let me fix that for you.” Dana continued, winking at her.

She wrote something on Victoria’s forehead, but no matter how hard Victoria tried to figure out the letters, she couldn’t concentrate. Her scalp was very itchy in that moment.

Once she finished, Dana pointed the marker at her white blouse with a bright smile, and Victoria couldn’t help turning her head to another side. What was people’s obsession with spoiling her clothes? It was sad.

“I’m done with your hair, so now we’ll give you our last gift.” Juliet laughed.

Dana lifted her again, and this time she didn’t find any fight from Victoria. In fact, Victoria remained with her eyes closed, completely defeated.

Victoria didn’t feel her feet landing on ground, but she kept hearing the sound of the duct tape, as well as feeling it against her body. What the hell was going on there? She snapped her eyes open, and saw what was going on there. Juliet was sticking her to the wall with duct tape while Dana held her in the air.

What on Earth did she do to deserve this?

Oh, well…

2 minutes later, Juliet ran out of duct tape, but Victoria was completely glued to the wall, with her head itching like she had lice, and the feeling that her designer blouse was ruined forever. It was an awesome blouse, but there would be another. However, some tears rolled down Victoria’s face. It wasn’t because she was sad, or angry. Well, maybe a little. But anyway, it was because her hair was really itchy, and she wildly wanted to scratch it so much she’d break her not-so-perfect-after-the-food-fight manicured nails. Those two tears were a mistake, but she couldn’t help it.

“Oh, sweetie, don’t cry!” Juliet said in a mocking tone. “You look fantastic. Let me take a photo so you can see!”

Juliet backed up a little, and snapped a photo of Victoria, who gave her the most intense gaze, heavily implying she’ll make her pay, ever seen. Juliet showed her the picture and took her sweet time to make sure Victoria actually saw the picture. Her hair was fucking pink. Also, Dana wrote ‘ _Princess_ ’ on her forehead, and ‘ _Will take the D for free, call me_ ’ on her white blouse. Of all days she could’ve wore white clothes, why did it have to be that day? Victoria wondered.

“So, we’re gonna leave you here, okay? But don’t worry, we’ll post your picture all over social medias so everyone can see how cute you look.” Juliet exultantly said.

She planted a kiss on Victoria’s cheek, and both girls left the room laughing like hyenas, leaving her there. Stuck to the wall with duct tape, with a ton of pink hair dye on her, and a spoiled blouse.

Victoria, who was apparently defeated, tried to move, but it was pointless. She couldn’t move or make any audible sound, so the only thing she could was wait. An unknown feeling of wanting to see Juliet and Dana’s bodies burn at the stake was growing inside her, making her blood boil.

“Fuck.” Victoria said against the duct tape.

That wasn’t going to end there.

Victoria lost track of time after what it seemed an hour. She didn’t know where were Taylor and Courtney, but she really hoped they were looking for her. Obviously they all had their space to do their things, but they also were used to be together. Almost 24/7. Not now though…

Suddenly, the bathroom door opened, and Victoria saw out of the corner of her eye the last girl she wanted to see in that moment. Maxine Caulfield and her 26 cute, lame, freckles. She got in and didn’t look back, so she didn’t see Victoria. It was just a matter of time that Max realized Victoria was there, so she started yelling things in order to be noticed. Max jumped to the sound and looked back, opening her eyes in a really funny surprised face when she saw Victoria wrapped in duct tape to the wall.

“Oh my god…” Max managed to say.

Victoria made some angry noises, pointing with her head at the cocoon Juliet and Dana made for her.

“Oh my god…” Max repeated, moving to be in front of Victoria.

Max kept repeating ‘Oh my god’ while she started ripping off the duct tape bands from the wall. Victoria rolled her eyes.

Eventually, Victoria’s arms were free, and she removed the duct tape from her mouth, taking with it any hint of fuzz she could have. Alternative wax method.

“Oh my god…” Max repeated one more time.

Was that the only expression in her vocabulary? For fuck’s sake…

Victoria, with the help of Max, bended her body and took off the last pieces of duct tape, which made her land on her knees. Once she was free, the anger she’d been stocking inside her exploded like a nuclear bomb. She started squealing Courtney and Taylor’s names, and holy fuck, she sounded like a pig. Max nervously backed up when apparently a Banshee possessed Victoria’s body, tripping with her own feet and landing on her butt. The squealing didn’t seem to stop, and Max decided that was way off her limits. Super-Max had done her good deed of the day, so she ran out of the room, understandably a little unsettled by Victoria’s reaction.

Courtney and Taylor got into the room right after Max got out, both alerted by the screams. From the outside, it seemed like a horror movie where the protagonist is running away from her murderer and starts screaming for help.

Well, fuck. The view was overwhelming. Victoria was clearing her hair, and it was bright pink.

“What happened?” Taylor muttered.

“Where’s the fire extinguisher?” Victoria replied with an angry grunt.

“Victoria, can we all please calm down for a minute?” Courtney said, crossing her arms.

“Calm down? Are you seriously telling me to calm down?” Victoria yelled.

“Those fucking bitches have tied me, dyed my hair pink, ruined one of my favorites blouses and threatened me to post a pic on social medias, and you’re telling me to calm down.” She continued saying with a trembling voice due to the anger.

Victoria turned to the door and got out, followed by Courtney and Taylor.

“Dana! Juliet! Where the fuck are you?” Victoria yelled. She had already spotted the extinguisher.

“Fuck off, Princess!” Juliet’s voice came from Dana’s room.

Victoria grabbed the extinguisher, and with a sudden rush of monumental strength that had been stifled within cords of muscle that was just shrieking to be unleashed in righteous fury, she brought the heavy weight down upon the doorknob with a satisfying crack as it practically snapped off. She slammed down the door with her foot and burst into the room with as much vigor as one could expect from vengeful royalty.

“Yippee ki yay, motherfuckers!” Victoria yelled, yanking the pin at the top of the red canister.

She aimed the nozzle directly at the girls sitting on the couch, and squeezed the lever. The party started immediately, as the extinguishing powder covered the girls once Victoria squeezed the lever. After just 10 seconds, the fire extinguisher stopped working, but the damage was already done.

What Victoria didn’t think about was what the hell she was going to do after covering Juliet and Dana with the white powder. Victoria threw away the fire extinguisher and backed up until she reached the hallway. Of course, Juliet ran after Victoria after taking a couple of seconds to recover from the shock. When she reached her, they both aimed for their colorful hairs, and started wrestling on the floor.

At that point, the rest of the dorm was standing in front of their doors, looking at them with different reactions showing on their faces. Even Dana, Taylor and Courtney were looking at the girls without knowing how to react.

“Get off me!” Juliet said in a chocked voice.

“Write an article about this, fucking Veronica Mars!” Victoria blurted.

Like it happened back in the cafeteria, none of them knew how to actually fight, so they kept wrestling on the floor, trying to pull each other’s hair or hold onto something they could pull.

Eventually, the scene became really denigrating. Victoria and Juliet fighting on the floor, moving so fast you could only see pink and blue reflections. Dana, Taylor and Courtney sighed, and agreed it was time to make it stop, so they held the girls by their arms and separated them.

“Listen. We all had fun and both of you look ridiculous with those hair colors, but it’s time to stop.” Dana stated.

“Can’t we all be friends?” Taylor innocently said.

Victoria’s arm slipped off Courtney and Taylor’s jail, and she tried to reach Juliet’s hair, hissing like a cat. Juliet was also fighting against Dana’s captivity, but she got her controlled by holding her with a chokehold. Damn, those girls did really want to rip each other’s throat, and they were fiercely fighting against the arms that prevented them from keeping on with the fight.

“STOP! I’ve had enough of this prank war, so stop it.” Taylor authoritatively stated. She was getting really angry with Victoria and Juliet for not knowing when to stop.

Victoria was impressed with Taylor’s unexpected authority, and stopped fighting and she scanned Juliet with her eyes, realizing how silly they looked for insisting so much in fighting. Plus, Juliet did look ridiculous with her hair blue. She probably did look ridiculous too.

Suddenly, Victoria started laughing, and her girls released her. Victoria bended and held her knees, snorting like a dork. Juliet frowned, but Victoria’s laugh was too contagious to not join in.

“Now, shake your hands before we all clean this mess and go have a drink to celebrate you look like idiots because of a guy.” Dana said.

They hesitated, but Victoria offered her hand to Juliet, still laughing.

“Truce?” Victoria asked.

“Truce.” Juliet shook Victoria’s hand.

“Punkie.” Victoria whispered.

“Barbie.” Juliet snapped back.

They still had to clean up everything before they got even more days of detention. But hell, who cared? They had a lot of fun indeed.

 

* * *

 

Victoria woke up the next day feeling her head spinning. They probably shouldn’t have drunk that much alcohol last night, but none of the girls told Victoria to stop ordering (paying) bottles of champagne. Of course she wasn’t stupid, and she kept ordering the cheapest champagne they had at the club, so she only spent less and a hundred bucks last night. Pocket change for her.

They had a lot of fun indeed, and she ended up hugging a very drunk Juliet while they bitched about Zachary. He wasn’t actually the only one to blame for what happened yesterday, as Victoria was the one who sent the texts teasing him, but apparently Juliet just wanted to forget about everything, and she was really friendly with Victoria last night. Until some idiots started to sing ‘ _Barbie Girl_ ’ to Victoria. She was so drunk she didn’t understand why they were singing it to her, but in was certainly infuriating. Then she remembered her hair was pink now. Despite the fact that Barbie has blonde hair, they kept saying ‘ _Come on Barbie, let’s go party_ ’ to Victoria, and the not-right-then blonde could only take so much. She took the bottle of champagne, used her thumb as cap, shook the bottle several times and splashed the group of guys with the froth, which obviously, got them out of the club.

They had to walk all the way back to Blackwell, but it was an amusing walk, as the girls kept singing ‘Barbie Girl’ while Victoria made the chorus, pointing at her pink hair the whole time.

When Victoria woke up, she felt her head was spinning, but the first thing she thought was ‘ _Come on Barbie, let’s go party. Ah, ah, ah yeah! Come on Barbie let’s go party. Ooh, ooh!_ ’, so it wasn’t such a bad hangover.

It would probably have been a nice day, had she not checked her phone. But she did check her phone, and she saw a message she sent last night to Max Caulfield.

_I cn’t wait 2 work wit thoe 26 cute frekkles_

Oh my god. WHY?

There was a reply from this morning at 10: 26.

_I can’t wait to see your hangover face. What time should we meet for the assignment?_

Victoria checked the time; 12:14. Well, it wasn’t that bad. She hated waking up after lunchtime. But that was the only thing that wasn’t that bad. Oh my god… Why didn’t any of her minions stop her from texting Max? Why did she have to write THAT? Oh my god… She quickly typed a reply.

_Don’t get so excited. We’ll meet at 2pm in the parking lot._

The reply came almost instantly.

_I’ll see you there._

She was waiting for the reply, wasn’t she? Well, no one can surrender to the charms of Victoria Chase, especially not after seeing her flawless body. Victoria blushed very hard at the thought of Max’s eyes running over her naked body. Although, she didn’t blush because she was embarrassed at the thought, she couldn’t put a name to the feeling that just struck her.

Victoria snapped out of it taking a long shower and getting ready to go out. Even with her hair pink, she managed to look absolutely trendy and flawless, although she had to wear a rather hipster outfit, as her usual poshy style didn’t match with her new hair color. What-ever. Anything Victoria wore was subject to become trendy in Blackwell, as she was the ultimate influencer of the town.

When it was almost 2pm, she headed to the parking lot. Max was standing on the steps, checking her phone. Victoria greeted her with a grunt. Basically, Victoria’s reactions to people were grunts or sharp comments. She was getting tired of that and would love to enjoy a proper conversation just for once.

“Let’s go.” Victoria told the girl.

“Where are we going?” Max asked her.

“Just get into the car, loser. And be quiet, my head is still pounding.” Victoria answered in her more gentle tone.

When Victoria and Max were into the car, Max remained silent while Victoria fastened her seat belt and started the engine. But she couldn’t hold it anymore.

“How the hell do you know I have 26 ‘cute’ freckles on my face? I counted them, cause I didn’t know it myself.” Max teased Victoria with a soft laugh.

“Can we go back to when you were a piece of furniture in the room? I don’t want to talk.” Victoria menacingly stated.

“Come on! It was only a joke!” Max justified, losing any hint of smile on her face.

“Shut the fuck up.” Victoria angrily said.

Max had enough of Victoria’s attitude, and she wasn’t going to shut the fuck up.

“You know what? You’re a royal pain in the ass.”

“A ro… A royal pain in the ass? Are you serious?”

“Well you can’t say it doesn’t fit you, since you’re always reminding everyone you’re the ‘Queen of this place’!” Max parroted Victoria’s voice. That was painful.

“It’s not my fault I belong to royalty… Metaphorically speaking.” Victoria said pretending she didn’t care.

“You’re just a phony.” Max muttered, crossing her arms.

“Enough! Enough with the Catcher in the Rye references! I really can’t be bothered!” Victoria was really angry, even though there wasn’t any particular reason to be angry.

“I wasn’t…. Wait. Did you just put a British accent?”

“No, I didn’t.” Yes, Victoria did.

“Yes, you did. And you did it again. You totally sound like Hermione Granger right now” Max laughed.

“Yeah, whatever, Holden Caulfield.” Victoria huffed.

“Seriously?”

“ _Ta gueule_!” Victoria said in a perfect French. Rude expressions were easy to learn. That one was really rude, by the way.

“Rude…”

“Stuff it, you sad arse.”

“Okay Victoria, you’re being really annoying right now. And stop the British shit, it’s only making you a terrible pain in the ass right now. YES, royal pain in the ass.”

Victoria rolled her eyes and moved her lips, pretending she was mimicking Max. But she didn’t say anything.

“How old are you, five?”

Victoria replied by mimicking Max again, and that was probably the worst thing she could have done.

“Stop the car.” Max said. She was really angry.

“Are you crazy? I’m not stopping the car…” Victoria replied furrowing her brows.

“Stop the fucking car now. I don’t want to share the same oxygen with you.” Max insisted.

Victoria slowed down and stopped the car, but locked the door so she could talk with Max.

“Hey, listen! We have to do the assignment.”

“Unlock the doors, Victoria. I want to get out.”

“Come on, Max. Don’t be that way.”

“Let me out!” Max said, frantically pulling the knob.

“Look… I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear? Well, there you go. I’m sorry, Max.” Victoria apologized. It was a shitty apology, but it was better than nothing, no?

Max looked at Victoria, and shook her head no. Victoria didn’t want to force her into being in the car anymore, so she unlocked the doors. Max opened the door and got out of the car, but before walking away, she looked at Victoria again.

“You should learn how to hold your shit together, Victoria.” Max said in a neutral tone.

Victoria sighed and started the car when she realized Max wasn’t going to come back. She saw Max walking away from the car and calling someone, so Victoria guessed she didn’t want to speak with her anymore that day.

She headed back to Blackwell, and locked herself in her room, trying to forget the feeling that overcame her. Victoria didn’t want to give the impression that she was needy, whatsoever. But she was also feeling extremely guilty for what happened. She texted Max. What else could she do?

_I’m sorry. I was a big time asshole._

She waited for the reply, but it didn’t come until that night, when she was having dinner with Taylor and Courtney.

_Yeah, you really were an asshole._

Victoria couldn’t wait to reply, so she didn’t.

_Let me make it up to you. Please?_

Max replied with a dry ‘ _How?_ ’ after some intense 15 minutes of wait.

_Trust me, you’re gonna love it. Can I meet you and your 26 cute freckles tomorrow at 10am?_

Max reply came almost instantly this time. Victoria has caught the girl’s attention. Of course. She was the Queen of Arcadia Bay. There was nothing she couldn’t do.

_Don’t make me regret it. See you tomorrow, ‘Barbie Girl’._

She knew about last night chanting. Victoria chuckled at the text, which obviously triggered and ungodly amount of questions from Taylor and Courtney. Well, they could always help her to carry out her plan. Cause yes, she had a plan. Victoria Chase ALWAYS had a plan.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna send all my love to DasCheesenborgir. You are A-WE-SO-ME. Thanks for helping this happen.
> 
> Please review with your thoughts on this work!


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